"oh lord, what a poor lady she must have had it very bad to be with a babe, by that time, in the forest, gods if the soldiers had found her before you son, she would've been dead meat"
The sixty-two-year-old chubby and fair Mrs. Becca was seated at the foot of the bed Evan laid on, she looked up to her son as she continued her queries "where did you say you found her boy",
"in the forest, very close to its border, near our house" he tilted his head to the seventeen-year-old boy and gave an amused smile
"it was Drake who found her not me"
"that's right ma I found her, not Gorge," he said proudly, but loudly.
"shush, you don't want to wake her" she stood up "come let's go outside before we succeed to wake her with our noise"
The three made their way one by one out of the bedroom that was smaller than the inn room Evan had run from.
Outside there was a bench made from what seemed like a tree split from the center, Becca had barely sat down before she shot gorge her elder son a glare,
"what in heaven's name were you thinking boy bringing a stranger into my house, with this whole princess commotion going on, don't you know better, even Drake knew to run back here to tell me what he saw, and he's only seventeen, but you, a twenty-four-year-old man, what did you do?, you carried her and her child back here?!"
"but ma she was hurt, she needed help and the baby wouldn't stop crying, she could've died had I left her there"
Becca's voice softened now
"so that's why you helped her, because of her baby?, Gorge I know that you and Teresa have not been blessed with your own child, but you both really cannot be going around helping any and every child you see especially the ones you find in the forest with a badly hurt and bleeding mother" she took in a steady breath "I do not want any trouble I'll treat her as soon as Tessa comes back with the herbs I asked her to buy, But that's it! She leaves as soon as she is well enough, No more"
Gorge was about to warp his arm around his mother and thank her when another female voice spoke "but why mother, why can't they stay"
Gorge's eyes widened at the question, what exactly was his wife thinking, she was about to ruin the sweet deal he just made with his mother, he started to signal her to keep quiet when his mom replied
"I know you want the baby to stay long my dear, but we really cannot afford trouble"
"but I'm just coming back from town and I heard the soldiers were going back to the capital, to celebrate the victory of the new king, I asked old Mr. Fred and he said the princess had already been caught, there will be no trouble I promise!"
The woman wasn't her mother but she treated her like her favorite child
"okay my darling, they can stay, only if they want to"
Tessa ran to her mother-in-law and hugged her, thank you mal, gorge must have forgotten how his mother adored his wife, he looked at them with pure delight, down the porch drake was busy playing with sticks, Gorge smiled to himself.
As if sensing his delight the screeching sound of a very vexed crying baby rang loud and clear and broke his peaceful daze.
"Quickly, the baby must be up I'll go..." "Don't worry ma I'll go carry her myself" Tessa offered cutting off whatever sentence Mrs. Becca wanted to say
"here, it's the medicine you asked for" she dumped the herds in her mother-in-law's hand "you can go treat the lady,
I'll take care of the child" she ran off into the house not waiting for a response.
The baby lay on the bed flat on her stomach trying to turn, arms and legs kicking as she continued to cry out, her golden hair and her small, slim, and fragile frame was the first thing Tessa saw, the hair color was so unusual, it was very rare to see such color of hair. Especially in such a small village such as this only royals or people of the highest class had such hair.
The thought ran through Tessa's mind but did not linger, this was only a child what harm could she bring not giving a second thought to the color of the hair, she went and carried the baby and for the first time since they rescued the child she saw her eyes "ooh gods" she shuddered "MOTHER!!"
She screamed as loud as her voice could bare, the baby's eyes were so blue that they shone, there were many half-bloods birthed by concubines that had blue eyes or golden hair, but none had both, this child was special, she had very few contacts with those of the higher class and even those were not meaningful, but even she knew that this child she was carrying in her arms was surely special.
Mrs. Becca and Gorge ran into the room, Gorge holding an axe, he was probably chopping some wood, and Mrs. Becca the knife she was using to cut the cause and herbs for the lady's treatment, they both ran into the room at the same time and now stood by the doorway looking around the room for any threat, when they found none they looked straight at Tessa with the same questioning expression written all over their faces, Tessa extended her hands and the baby who was now calm towards her mother in law and husband "the baby" was all she said but that was all it took for Gorge and Mrs. Becca to drop their weapons and run up to the child,
Gorge reached first as he only had to drop his axe by his feet and reaching out he took the baby from Tessa's arm afraid that the worst had happened, maybe the child had a concussion or something, that would explain why the little creature was asleep when there was a ruckus going on around her, but what he was met with was unexpected and he didn't know what to make of it,
"Mother, you should see this",
Mrs. Becca had just dropped her knife on a small table near the wall and now stood beside her son and was now looking at the reason why Tessa screamed
"oh" was the only sound that left her lips but I sounded so dreadful.
The baby was washed, dressed, and fed she was now laying in the room she was in before, asleep "what do you want to do with her now Gorge? I told you I do not want any trouble"
All three of them were seated on the edge of the bed, circling the little child, Gorge sat there speechless, looking at the sleeping baby. It was Tessa who replied "mother it's not the princess's child, she won't be trouble"
Mrs. Becca looked away from the baby and straight into Tessa's eye, it was enough to make Tessa doubt what she had just said, "really, do you really believe that?, we do not know who this child belongs to, nor do we know who that woman is, for all we know she could have kidnapped this poor child; they are not staying with us and that is final, I even treated her" Mrs. Becca said the last part in a low voice regretting why she decided to listen to her children and dreading what would follow if her assistance to the lady in her house is found out by whoever has the child "I have given her all the treatment she requires, once she wakes she must leave this house and that is final!" she said this with a stern voice ready to close the matter before Gorge finally found his voice,
"We don't know if she stole the baby, mother, we should wait till she wakes up" he looked up slowly from the child to where his mother now stood by the door "then we can question her and find out the truth",
Tessa seeing a ray of hope chipped in "yes mother please let us at least find out the truth first? She stood went to where the old lady was standing and held her hand "please mother"
Her eyes had now started to water up. She had never had a child of her own, but she somehow felt this child was hers, apart from the hair and eyes the baby really resembled the child Tessa had lost, after that stillbirth, she would not be able to give birth again, of course, Gorge and she had decided to keep it a secret from her sweet mother in law.
Mrs. Becca's strict and strained expression softened but she was not even allowed to respond, before Mrs. Becca could make a complete sentence a loud bang sounded within the house the loud noise came from the other room, and forgetting what she had in mind, she turned swiftly looked towards the door then turned to face her
Children, there was a knowing on their faces, they were about to find out the child's identity a lot sooner than they thought, she turned again and headed straight to the room the lady was in with determination her daughter-in-law and son walked quickly behind her to catch up.